Better, Stronger, Scared
by TheSoulStealer
Summary: When Marco and Alex ran into each other at school, they both knew it was love at first sight. When Marco finds out that Alex is being targeted by yeerks, he convinces the other Animorphs to give her the power to morph. Then he finds out why the yeerks were so interested in Alex...
1. Chapter 1

**_Another spur-of-the-moment fanfiction. This is an OCxMarco fanfiction, and it's my first paring fanfiction, so please let me know if I mess up super terribly. However, since I could never read, much less write a story that is completely romantic, this story probably won't go beyond middle school boyfriend and girlfriend level, thus the low age rating. I'm probably going to focus more on the adventure than the romantic aspect. Let me know what you think!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs._**

Alex~

"Sorry!"  
I took one look at the boy standing in front of me with a surprised expression on his face, then knelt down and started picking up my books.  
"No big deal," I muttered.  
"Here, let me help you with that." The boy with the brown hair knelt in front of me and started to help me gather my books.  
"No, really," I said, looking him in the eye for the first time since we clashed. "It's cool."  
"Jeez, why are you so reluctant to have me help you?" Marco joked.  
"Because I know you're probably up to no good," I replied, smiling. "Alex," I held out my hand.  
"Marco," Marco shook my hand.  
"Lovely weather we're having," I said as I stood up with my books in my arms. Marco laughed. The truth was, the weather was downright terrible. It was raining cats and dogs outside.  
"Yes, I think today is a good day for a leisurely stroll, don't you think? Shall we say, after school?"  
"Sorry, I can't today. My sister's friend's mother's grandpa's bother's grandson's uncle's fish died. And yes, it was tragic."  
"Oh, come on. I want to find some way to make this up to you. Any chance you can reschedule?"  
"How about the thirty-second of Novembuary?" I asked. Marco smiled.  
"It's a date."

* * *

After school, I found Marco waiting next to my locker.  
"Do you think you can miss your sister's friend's mother's grandpa's brother's grandson's uncle's fish's funeral?"  
"Nice memory. I can't even remember what I said." I opened my locker and grabbed my backpack. "I think I might be able to, if the reason I was missing it was important enough." I winked at Marco.  
"Well, this is my first free day in a while, so I was thinking maybe we could take that leisurely stroll to my house, then maybe play some video games."  
"I dunno... What kind of video games?"  
"The best kind."  
"I think I just might be able to miss the funeral." I grabbed my backpack out of my locker and slammed the door shut. "Just let me ask my mom."  
I texted my mom, asking her if I could hang out at a friend's house.  
"The moms said yes." I said. "Come on, lets go."  
Walking out of the school, we ran into a girl with long blonde hair.  
"Well, well, well. Looks like Marco finally got himself a date," She said, which made me blush. "I'm Rachel. You're the new girl right?"  
"Alex," I replied. Rachel nodded.  
"Well, if Marco decides to try anything, let me know." She smiled at me and we went our separate ways.  
"Do you know her?" I asked.  
"She's just a friend." Marco replied, rolling his eyes. We made our way out of the school.  
On the way to Marco's house, we talked about basically everything. School, our families, even our favorite foods and colors. Sometimes it was stupid stuff, and sometimes it was super serious. I don't know why, but I felt like I could trust him with anything.  
"My dad has been acting really weird lately," I said as we walked up to Marco's front door. "He goes on these weird trips every few days. Sometimes he'll even be gone for the whole day, and he'll never tell us where he's going," I said.  
Marco had a weird look on his face.  
"What? Did I say something wrong?" I mentally slapped myself for saying that. Why would Marco want to know about my family problems anyway?  
"No, you didn't say anything wrong." I followed Marco to his kitchen. "Doritos?" He asked, opening a cupboard.  
"Cool ranch?" I asked.  
"No." Marco took out the large orange bag. "Nacho cheese."  
"That is a sin to mankind! I don't think I can ever come here again!" I stormed out of the kitchen and came back a few seconds later. Marco was laughing.  
"I personally like nacho cheese better than cool ranch," he said.  
"Remind me never to date you." I realized what I was saying after I had already said it. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_  
"Shame," Marco said, not acting weird at all about what I had just said. "Are you saying you don't want any?"  
"Are you kidding? Of course I want some!" I snatched the bag out of Marco's hand and opened it. "They're Doritos."  
"Come on, lets go play some video games." Marco said, and I followed him to his room.  
"Do you have Amnesia, by chance?" I asked.  
"You like horror games?"  
"Yeah. So, do you have it or not?"  
"Yeah, but I haven't played it much. Too scary."  
I smiled. "Wimp."  
"Do you want to play it or not?"  
"Sure." I walked over to Marco's laptop and sat in the chair. He set up the game for me. "What a gentleman," I joked. "Now, can you turn the lights off?"  
"Why?" Marco asked.  
"To add to the effect."  
Marco turned off the lights and I played the game. It was really funny to see Marco jump at some of the jumpscares.  
"How are you not scared by this?" He asked for about the fiftieth time.  
"Because I know that it's not real." I shrugged. "Do you want to try?"  
"Sure, why not? Can't look scared in front of a girl. That would ruin my image."  
"Okay." I switched chairs with Marco an he started playing. A few minutes in, he jumped back and fell over in his chair. I laughed, offering him my hand.  
"So much for not looking scared in front of a girl," I laughed. Marco grabbed my hand and I hauled him to his feet.  
"Why don't we play something else?" He asked. I laughed again.  
"Sure, scaredy-cat."  
We played a variety of games before I had to go home. All the while we kept each other entertained with our various conversation topics.  
"That was fun," I said when it was time for me to leave. "We should do it again sometime."  
"Yeah." Marco said. He escorted me to the door. "How about the thirty-second of Novembuary, like you said before?"  
"I actually think the funeral has been rescheduled to that date," I said.  
"Too bad," Marco sighed.  
"See ya!" I called as I walked out the door.  
"See you later!" Marco called back. I couldn't help but smile the whole way home.

* * *

Marco~

"We followed her for three days," Jake told me. The whole gang was in Cassie's barn, like we were all the time these days. I swear, if we're not in Cassie's barn, we're trying to find a way to get ourselves killed. "She isn't a yeerk."  
"Good," I sighed.  
"However," he said, "she is being followed by some very important yeerks, and you hanging out with her a lot may make you a target."  
"Why don't we tell her?" I asked for the third time that day. "We could give her the power to morph."  
"Marco, you know what happened last time we tried that," Cassie said.  
"But we barely even knew that kid. Trust me, I know her, she wouldn't do something like that."  
"The answer is no, Marco," Jake sighed.  
"But her dad is a yeerk!" I protested. "If we don't help her, she'll be one too, if she really is being followed like you say."  
/What would happen if she was caught by the yeerks and infested?\ Tobias asked.

"Tobias is right, Marco," Rachel agreed. "She's a lost cause."  
"David was a lost cause," I pointed out. "We gave him the power to morph."  
"But look how that turned out!" Rachel protested.  
"Like I said before, we didn't know him that well. I know Alex. I'll make sure she doesn't get caught."  
"I don't know Marco..." Jake sighed.  
"Come on!" I sighed. "Please?"  
"Oh my gosh, Marco!" Rachel exclaimed. "Did you just say please? You must be really desperate."  
/If I may be of any assistance, it might help to have her draw some of the yeerks to us\ Ax, our alien friend, suggested.  
"You mean, use her as bait?"  
"It might work." Jake looked at me.  
"No way!" I wasn't about to use Alex like that.  
"It's your choice Marco. But if you tell her, there's no going back."  
I sighed and weighed my options. I didn't like the idea of using Alex as bait, but I thought that her being infested by a yeerk was at least a million times worse.  
"Okay," I sighed. "I'll tell her. But if they take her," I looked directly at them, "I'm going in, and I don't care if I have to go in alone."

**_It's a little bit short, but this is another fanfic that I'm just trying see if it works out. I also figured that if I have fanfictions about an R-rated movie and a teenage anime, I'd better add in one about a kid's book :). Reviews are appreciated! Thanks!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_I'm FINALLY done with another chapter! Thank you guys for all of the awesome reviews I'm getting! I really appreciate it! There's a little bit more action in this chapter. Hopefully you guys like it!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs_**

Alex~

I threw a rolled up ball of paper at Marco when the teacher wasn't looking. He looked over at me.  
'Open it,' I mouthed.  
He uncrumpled the ball of paper and read the note.  
_I'm free after school. Wanna hang out?_  
Marco wrote something down on the piece of paper, crumpled it back up, then threw it back to me.  
_Meet me at my locker after school_.  
I could barely contain my excitement! Even the boring drone of our teacher's voice while he was talking about algebra couldn't crush my ever-growing enthusiasm.  
When school was finally over, I practically threw all of my books in my locker. I couldn't keep myself from bouncing as I walked.  
_Calm down, Alex_. I mentally scolded myself for being so childish. How embarrassing!  
I managed to compose myself just as I saw Marco and his best friend, Jake, talking at his locker. I instantly got a little less excited.  
_Don't be stupid. Jake and Marco are probably just talking or something, like all friends do._  
I was about to walk up to them when I caught a little snippet of their conversation.  
"Marco, if you don't tell her, I will."  
"She'll think I'm crazy!"  
"You said that you would tell her. It's either that or..." Jake lowered his voice so I couldn't make out what he was saying.  
"Okay, okay," Marco sighed. Then he caught sight of me. "Oh. Hi Alex." His cheeks flushed bright red.  
"Hi Marco!" I greeted, pretending I didn't hear their conversation. "Hi Jake!"  
Jake nodded at me. "Hey." He turned back to Marco. "I guess I'd better go now. You decide, Marco." He walked away.  
"What was that all about?" I asked. Marco didn't answer as he gathered up his stuff and closed his locker.  
"Um, my friends and I were going to meet up at Cassie's farm later if you want to come with," He said, looking anxious.  
"Okay. What time?"  
"In an hour or so. Wanna come over to my house until then?"  
"Sure."  
As we walked to his house, Marco stayed quiet. My attempts to start up conversation after converstion died as soon as I got the words out of my mouth.  
"Okay, Marco," I said when I saw his hands shaking as he grabbed the controllers, "what's up?"  
Marco sighed and put the controllers down. "I'll tell you, but not here and not now."  
"Why not? Marco, you've been acting all weird lately, and I want to know what's going on! Either you tell me right now, or I'm leaving!" I was really frustrated, but I didn't expect to snap at Marco like that.  
Marco looked me in the eyes for the first time since school. Then he walked over to his phone and started dialing a number.  
"Hey Cassie," he said, "Alex was wondering if you wanted to meet up and watch a movie or something. When? Oh, about..." He looked up at me. I shrugged and he looked away again. "...ten minutes or so. Wanna see if Jake and the others can come too? Thanks." He looked back at me again. "Come on. Lets go."  
"Go where?" I asked as I followed Marco out the door.  
"You'll see."

Marco~

Everybody else was already there by the time Alex and I made it.  
"Hey Marco, hey Alex!" Cassie called, obviously trying to lighten up the mood a little bit. Everybody was anxious, and for good reason.  
"What's going on?" Alex asked, obviously noticing the off-putting mood.  
I looked at everybody else for support. I vaguely noticed that Ax was in his human morph.  
Thank god.  
"Telling her was your idea, Marco," Rachel pointed out.  
"Tell me what?"  
I turned to Alex and took a deep breath.  
"Alex," I said. "My friends and I have these powers..."

Alex~

I sat cross legged on the ground and put my head in my hands.  
"You okay Alex?" Marco asked. I looked up.  
"It's a lot to take in," I mumbled. I glanced over at Ax, who had morphed into a monstrous blue deer in front of my eyes.  
"I know the feeling."  
"Can I just have some time alone to process this?" I asked, looking up. I saw them glance around at each other. Then Cassie spoke.  
"I'm sorry," she said. "You can't."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, now that you know our secret..." Jake started. I nodded.  
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I shook my head, trying to clear it. "So, what if I say no?"  
They all kinda just glanced at each other again, and I knew what they were thinking.  
"Oh." I looked down at the ground again. "Then, yes. I'll do it."  
Cassie walked over to me and held out a cube about the size of her hand.  
"This is the Blue Box," she said. "If you touch it, you will get the power to morph."  
I reached out my hand, then hesitated.  
"Are you sure my dad is one of them?" I asked  
/I followed him for three days\ Tobias said. /He's definately a yeerk.\  
I put my hand on the cube and felt a small shock.  
"Ah!" I took my hand off of the Blue Box. "It shocked me."  
"Yeah, it'll do that," Rachel chuckled.  
/Uh, guys.\ Tobias flew down from the rafters. /We've got company.\

Marco~

I could see the expression in Jake's face change as he turned into the serious leader we all know him to be.  
"Are you sure they're yeerks?"  
Anyone else you know have ray guns and bug fighters?  
"Alright. Marco," He said, turning to me. "You take Alex to safety. What's going on Tobias?"  
/They're all coming to the front of the barn.\  
I grabbed Alex's hand as Jake started giving orders to the rest of the Animorph's.  
"Alright. Come on," I said, trying to stay calm. "This way." I ran with her to the back of the barn.  
"Aren't we going to get trapped here?" She asked, a frantic look in her eyes.  
"Nope." I said. And I started to morph. I watched her look on in horror as I turned into a large gorilla. Then I slammed the wooden wall, which crumbled under my strength.  
"Well," Alex mumbled, "that's one way to do it."  
/Follow me, and stay close.\  
The yeerks had just landed their bug fighters and I could see taxons and hork-bajir coming our way.  
"Oh my god!" Alex screamed. "What are those things!?"  
/Well, the walking killing machines are hork-bajir.\ I stood in front of Alex as the aliens started advancing. /And the centipede-looking things are taxons.\  
"I have kind of a phobia of things with more than eight legs," Alex said.  
/Then you should have a lot of fun with this.\ One taxon got within range of my right arm and I started ripping it to pieces. Alex looked on in horror as the other taxons started eating its corpse.  
"Oh, ew," she gasped. Then I heard her scream as she saw more coming.  
/Alex, I think the yeerks are after you.\  
"Well that doesn't make me feel better!"  
/It wasn't supposed to.\  
At least five hork-bajir started attacking me at this point. I struggled to push them all away. A few human-controllers started shooting at me.  
"Marco!" Alex screamed. "Are you okay?!"  
/Yeah, I'm fine. I've been in worse situations.\  
I managed to kill the five hork-bajir just as I started to feel dizzy from blood loss.  
"Give us the girl, Andalites!"  
I felt Alex grab my big hairy arm.  
"Marco, come on. You're loosing too much blood."  
/Alex, no, I have to keep fighting.\  
"Don't you go all damsel-in-distress on me. I can take care of myself." She tugged on my arm. "Come on, we need to get you out of here."  
/I'm fine!\  
"No, you're not fine! You're bleeding!"  
/It tends to happen.\  
I managed to avoid most of the ray guns being shot at me. I pushed Alex out of the way just as a hork-bajir tried to grab her.  
"Marco!" Alex shouted. I stumbled and fell, too dizzy to go any further. I could feel the taxons crawling over me...eating my flesh...  
/Alex, run!\  
Alex looked down at me with a look of determination.  
Then she morphed.

**_Drama anyone? :) Yeah, it got a little over the top at the end there... oh well. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! R&R!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Finally! A new chapter! Sorry this is a little late, but I kinda-sorta had writers block. Hope you enjoy!_**

Marco~

The first thing I noticed about Alex's morph was that it was very smooth. Random body parts didn't morph one at a time, they morphed all together and at the same speed.

The second thing I noticed: Holy mother of god, she's morphing.

Alex morphed into a tiger, identical to the one Jake morphed. She pounced on the taxons, killing them all.

/Alex, how did you do that?\

Alex nudged me to my feet. She morphed into a grizzly bear, identical to the one Rachel morphed, and helped me get away from the attacking yeerks.

Yes, Alex morphed from a tiger into a grizzly bear.

/I don't know\ Alex said. /I just saw a tiger, and I morphed to help you.\

/The tiger is Jake\ I informed.

/Yeah. And then I saw the grizzly bear-\

/Rachel.\

/And I morphed that. Isn't that what you do?\

/No. We have to acquire the animals DNA first, and you saw how I morphed. It wasn't as smoothly as the way you morph.\

She brought me to the barn and made sure we were out of sight before I morphed back to my original self, then into a gorrilla again. Alex morphed back into herself as well and I was thankful that her morphing powers included the ability to morph clothes.

"Is this why the yeerks want me?" She asked, a worried expression on her face.

/If it is, then they obviously know much more about you than we do\ I replied.

"Okay, so they know that I can morph, and they know that I morph differently than you guys. So, they most likely want to infest me?"

/Most likely.\

"This is screwed up."

/Join the club.\

Alex's head snapped to the right, and she started to morph a hork-bajr. I looked to the right as well and saw a bunch of yeerks coming our way.

/Marco, go help the others. I think I can handle this.\

I was about to protest when she jumped into the fray. She slashed with the hork-bajr's blades as if she had lived in that body her whole life. She knew exactly what she was doing. I turned around and started to fight my own fight.

Alex~

The hork-bajr is a deadly weapon. They weren't always that way, though. I bet you already know this, but it's new to me. I just got all of this information when I morphed. Like, did you know that the tiger is the largest cat species? The tiger's mind basically bragged to me about that when I morphed it.

That's how it is for the others, right?

I felt something slash at my side. I saw this blueish goo oozing out of the cut. Is that blood? I wondered.

"Who are you?" I asked in that strange mixture of English and something else that was the language of the hork-bajr. "And if you say 'your worst nightmare' I _will_ make this hurt."

The hork-bajr attacking me let out a loud laugh. "You shouldn't be asking me that when you don't even know who or what you are."

"I am Alex, a human."

All of the hork-bajr around me laughed.

"Look at her! She doesn't even know her true origin!"

"What a piece of work she will be."

"Why don't we just end her stupidity now?"

Taunting voices surrounded me, always accompanied with slashes from the hork-bajrs' blades. Even though I was outnumbered, I managed to hold my own. I was bleeding everywhere, sure, but I was still kicking ass.

I felt something touch me. Startled, I slashed at whatever it was. "It" was a tiger that I totally missed because it was shorter than the hork-bajr.

/Calm down, Alex. It's just me.\

/Jake! You startled me!\ The hork-bajr started to advance. "Get...away...from...me!"

/You can speak their language?\

/Yeah. Why?\

/The others and I...we can't do that.\

Oh, great. Just another way I could be classified as a freak.

/I must be special or something\ I muttered.

/Or something\ Jake replied in awe. /We're outnumbered. We have to fly away. I know you don't have a bird morph, but...\

/Didn't Marco tell you?\ Jake and I were now fighting the advancement of the hork-bajr together.

/Tell me what?\

/I think I'll be able to manage.\ I took one final slash at the hork-bajr. /Run!\

I ran as fast as I could. Turns out, the hork-bajr isn't that good at running. Thankfully, Jake kept pace with me.

/The others are already in their bird morph\ Jake said. I nodded once in response.

/You go on ahead. Find some place where you'll be able to morph without being seen.\

/What about you?\

I was already beginning to grow feathers. /I think I'll be fine.\

Jake raced away as I started to finish my morph. I don't even know what species of bird I was, or if that species even existed. I couldn't even really see myself, but I'll describe the morph to you as best as I can.

I was about four feet in length and my wingspan was about twice that size. My feathers were the same color as the sky would be on sunny days, like today. I had the best vision anyone could imagine. I could literally count the amount of atoms in a blade of grass if I wanted to. I also had a wicked sharp beak and claws.

/Alex! Look out!\

Marco's call reached me just in time, as I took flight just as a yeerk lunged for me. I would've been caught if my wings didn't let me fly faster than the speed of light.

/Ha ha!\ I had never felt more free than that moment in time. There was no word to describe how amazing flying felt. I could hear the yeerk below me cussing out loud and, just to rub more salt in the wound, I swooped down and snatched his ray gun out of his hand. It was surprisingly easy to carry.

/I think it's time to go\ Jake said sternly, although I could hear a small amount of laughter in his voice.

/Okay!\ I followed him and the others as they started to fly away.

"Hey, Alex!"

I heard a jeering call from down below. I cringed at the sound of that voice.

/Don't turn back Alex.\ Cassie must've sensed my distress. /I know it hurts, but don't turn back. Don't let them know you're listening.\

I tried to ignore the painful sound of the yeerk speaking through my father.

"You want him back?!" He called. "You're going to have to come and get him!"

**_I know I've taken awhile to finish this, but I hope at lease some people are still interested in this fic. Reviews are appreciated! Thanks!_**


	4. I Fixed It!

Dear readers:

First of all, I would like to apologize for not checking to see if the thought-speak "quotation marks" showed up correctly. I just spent about twenty minutes fixing it and adding some indication to who is narrating a certain part. I'm very sorry for making this story confusing to read by not checking something that would've taken me five seconds to check. There's really no excuse for that.

/All thought-speak lines will now be read like this\

Lastly: I'm not finished with this story yet! There will be more chapters coming soon!

Thank you for reading this and, hopefully, understanding. Love you guys!

~Soul


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